What’s happened to Personal Responsibility?

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Outrage of the Month from uschamber.com - September 2008
Outrage of the Month from uschamber.com – September 2008

It seems that no one has any sense of shame anymore. No one is embarrassed about their actions. No one wants to take responsibility for their actions. Personally, when I walk down the sidewalk and trip over something that isn’t there, I try and look casual about it and hope no one notices my blunder. Too many people today look for ways to push the blame onto someone else. It couldn’t possibly have been their own fault! “Did you see what happened to me? Someone should pay!”

This sense of entitlement does nothing more than serve to keep lawyers employed and to drive the cost of everything up because of the potential liability. Insurance has become a huge expense to our industry (and probably all industries) because of that “what if” potential for liability.

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Sand Hill Farm – Zero Lot Line Homes

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Zero Lot Line Homes are one of the things I would like to consider for the Sandhill Farm PUD.  There are no provisions for Zero Lot Line Homes in Culver’s current ordinance and it is a missed opportunity on some of the smaller Lots of Record currently platted in town.

Currently there’s not a definition of Zero Lot Line homes on Wikipedia, so I don’t get to cheat and use that reference this time.  I did do some searches and found discussions regarding them here, here and for a negative viewpoint, here. 

Zero Lot Line Homes are usually placed in zoning districts with higher densities, such as R-2 and R-3 districts, but they are becoming more common as in-fill developments where small undeveloped parcels are subdivided in existing neighborhoods.  In a zero lot line development the setbacks are reduced to zero (but not always) on one or two sides of a property allowing the homes to be built side-by-side or back-to-back with a common wall on the property line.  Rather than building them in a row, like with multi-family town homes, they will maintain one Side Yard, a Front Yard and often a Back Yard.  They can be build in duplex, triplex and quadplex configurations.

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Sand Hill Farm – Front Porch

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The New Urbanism movement has mourned the loss of the front porch for some time.  Part of the premise of this is that the rise of the car, caused the demise of the porch.  Older homes in older neighborhoods were close to the sidewalk and a front porch was a place to sit and talk to your neighbors as they walked by.   Subdivisions of the seventies began moving the home away from the street, added a long driveway where cars could park and the porch shrank to be nothing but a stoop where guests stood waiting to be allowed entrance to the home.  Large wrap around porches were replaced with double garage doors as a main feature on the front of the home.  The car as your way out of the neighborhood became more important than the porch as a connection to the neighborhood.

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Maxinkuckee Village Preliminary PUD at Plan Commission

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On Tuesday, August 19th, Mr. Gary Aker introduced his plans for Maxinkuckee Village to the Culver Plan Commission.  He was assisted by Mr. Allen Collins of CMD Construction and his Attorney, Mr. Fred Jones.  This was the first trial of Culver’s revised PUD ordinance.  The ordinance was revised last year to add a preliminary concept review by the commission to determine if the developer was on the right track or if the commission had fundimental issues with the proposed development.  There are still quite a few requirements at this stage including a site plan, topography map, boundary survey and proof of financial capacity.  I watched this with interest as it should be a precursor of what happens with the Sand Hill Farm PUD I am considering.

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Culver Signs

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A few months back a group of Culver’s Realtors visited the Plan Commission at a regular meeting.  They had concerns regarding the sign section of the Zoning Ordinance and how it was being administered.  Most of the administration concerns were that, after years of lax enforcement, our current Building Commissioner has stepped up to the plate and is enforcing the rules that have been on the books for years… as he should.  I’m always frustrated that those of us that follow the rules are put at a disadvantage by those that ignore the rules because there are no consequences.

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